THE PERFECT DANCER

Taranaki Daily News, 24 July 1929, Page 7

THE PERFECT DANCER

WHAT ARE THEY DANCING?

(By

Phyllis Monkman.

. —Special to News)

No, 14. —Copyright. The dancing season is in full swing, and everyone is wondering which dances will emerge from the ranks of new claimants and win a permanent place in our dance list.

' A word of warning! It isn’t wise to accept every new dance which comes along, because there are usually more failures than successes among the innovations. On the other hand, it is disappointing to be “behind the times” and so I am going to devote this article to the dances which, in my opinion, will survive the season.

The sugar step, invented last year by a famous dancing master (an Englishman, too!)' is; to my mind a very likely candidate. It is easy to learn, most of the steps are short ones, it has a pleasant rhythm and it entails no fantastic poses or movements. As it is danced to foxtrot music, it has no drawback on that score, for there are dozens of attractive tunes written to this adaptable tempo. Yes, by all means go ahead and learn the sugar step. It is being taught and danced very widely, and I will deal with it in more detail next week.

One point to be noted is that dances depend very largely on bands; and bands, even in these “radio-active” days, depend much on local taste, so that the available dance music counts at least as much as the suitability of the new steps themselves. We haven’t much tango music; therefore, the tango and also the “tile trot” are somewhat handicapped. '' '' . Another point is our conservatism. We are unwilling to break away entirely from the older dances which have stood the test of time. The waltz—charming, swaying relic of a past civilisation —has come through with only a few changes; the foxtrot, once condemned as “not quite the thing,” now definitely holds premier place on our programmes; the Charleston, recently condemned as immoral and degrading, is danced to-day by all the best people in its final ‘ flat form. These three dances still remain sufficient to enable an occasional dancer to enjoy an evening in an ordinary hall or ballroom. For the keener amateur, there are, in addition, the quickstep, Yale blues, Baltimore, tango (if well done), and perhaps the blackbottom. They are all fairly easy to learn; all possess attractive rhythmic music, and all can be performed on a crowded floor without danger to other dancers and without rendering the performer conspicuous. Therefore they will last.

This year a rather promising novice claims attention —a sort of mixture of Charleston and the old lancers. It sounds rather curious, doesn’t it? yet its figures, similar to the old lancers patterns but executed to include some flat Charleston steps, are so novel as to command attention and probably some degree, of popularity. The reason for this dance s presence is just that—its novelty. We are getting tired of the conventional turning and twisting and stamping and posing, with our partners always in exactly the same positions opposite us. We want a change —a relaxation from the eternal holding and moving; airl because of a lack of inventiveness, or because such -breakaway” dances as have been tued have possessed literally no other attractions whatever, we have to go back to ie lancers of Grandmamma’s time, with a spice of newness introduced. It is a pity someone can’t give us a nice new dance “made in England, which combines rytlirn and just a little dignity with a workmanlike pattern and an occasional change or departure from the hold of our partners during the actual dance. For if such a measure could be invented, always supposing it to be of a nature which could be employed in an ordinary crowded hall or room. I’m convinced it would receive an ovation more emphatic than even that which welcomes the incoming-Charleston.